Three title changes at NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2024

Originally posted on F4WOnline.com | By Joseph Currier | Last updated Oct 14, 2024 9:34 AM ET

For the first time in his career, Zack Sabre Jr. has reached the summit of NJPW.

Sabre defeated Tetsuya Naito in the main event of King of Pro Wrestling 2024 on Monday to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion for the first time ever. After multiple Sabre Drivers near the end of the match, Sabre was able to get the three count and end Naito’s run as champion.

Winning the G1 Climax earned Sabre this title shot against Naito. The G1 winner traditionally gets their shot at Wrestle Kingdom, but NJPW’s story was that Sabre wanted to face Naito at King of Pro Wrestling so he could return to London as champion at Royal Quest. Sabre will be making his first IWGP World Heavyweight Championship defense against SANADA at that Sunday, October 20 event.

Sabre cut a post-match promo in Japanese after defeating Naito. SANADA, Shota Umino, and Shingo Takagi all appeared wanting shots at the title. Sabre informed them that SANADA was first in line and then we’d see who was next.

WWE star Gunther — a frequent opponent of Sabre’s when they were on the indies — posted a tweet congratulating Sabre on his title win:

ZSJ
— GUNTHER (@Gunther_AUT) October 14, 2024

Naito was IWGP World Heavyweight Champion for most of this year with two separate reigns with the title. He was champion from January-April and then from June-October.

Two other title changes also took place at King of Pro Wrestling. Ren Narita defeated Jeff Cobb and Yota Tsuji in a three-way match to win the NJPW World Television title. And KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team title belts by dethroning Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney).

Source

This article first appeared on F4WOnline.com and was syndicated with permission.

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